Hard & Fragile Like Diamond
A guided tour through torture...
The title "Hard and fragile like a diamond" refers to the physical and psychological capacity of humans. The first source of inspiration was based upon Amnesty International’s rapport "Take a step to stamp out torture". Recent reports speaks of torture and ill-treatment from more than 150 countries.
The victims include the disadvantaged, dissidents, criminal suspects, and political prisoners.
Others are people targeted because of their identity or belief and includes women and children.
How does this reality reach us in our homes, on our couches? Is the truth given to us through media...? Do we want it?
“Hard and fragile like a diamond” is an intimate physical performance, consisting of a live photographer, musician and an actor. The trio is exploring the audio-visual relations in physical and mental memories. The performance is a meeting between physical theatre, sound art, photography and various forms of documentation. As much as the theme will be a political statement concerning the wrongness about torture, it will also be a journey to the most intimate parts of human’s privacy and what it means to loose the rights to your thoughts.
The most intense minutes, however, are midway in the performance, when Martini stands behind a plexiglass with text being projected onto it: “The sound of having hot water poured down your throat” and then Martinis sickly realistic portrayal of exactly that. It is perceived as a horrible experiment on people, and the realism in the performance so violent, and the intense scene makes the whole body twitch from discomfort.
It also confronts big issues. Where does torture begin? What happens in the head of a young boy catching rats, setting them on fire and swinging them around his head as a burning lasso?
Paolo Martini masters this physical installation genre with bravoure, and this particular performance one should see even if one doesn’t care for theatre.
Important questions are being asked, strong theme, and strong impressions. Simply amazing stage art!
Silje Louise Waters , Fredrikstad Blad (NO). (Score: 5 out of 6 possible dots on the dice)
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Photos: Stefano Lanzardo ©
